Continuum
by Devan Alexander
Summary: 1931, China. A child is being held hostage and Agent May, freshly off the injured list, has to save her or face the consequences.


**Continuum**

May looked at the situation before her, knowing this was her first op since her recovery. She couldn't help but roll her eyes... of course it had to be now.

"Have you done it yet?" she heard her mother's voice in her memories asking again.

May had stopped asking "Done what?" years ago because she was tired of being told "You'll know."

"Shit." May mutter aloud, knowing she had no other option.

She noted as Daisy's head whipped in her direction. She knew she didn't talk, especially not in a situation like this one.

"No heroics May," Phil 2.0 reminded her. (She still had to think of him that way to maintain her sanity.)

The glare she gave him reminded him that she had to do this and he knew why.

It was a hostage situation, and things were rapidly getting out of hand. They were in China in 1931, and a civilian child, dressed in a red top with gold stitching and black pants, had been grabbed from the street. How they'd happened to be here, in China, at this exact moment, May wasn't sure, but when she looked up at the balcony and saw a large madman dangling a small girl upside down off the edge of the that balcony her mind instantly shot further back to an older memory.

"What is wrong now?" her mother sighed down at her.

"In Chinese school they tease me that my name is not Chinese," eight-year-old Melinda explained because she knew by her mother's tone that she had no other option.

To be honest, Lian May had long been expecting something like this.

"You want to know why your name is Melinda, is this so?" her mother, known more as a fierce warrior than a storyteller, began as she settled down beside her child, dressed in traditional red, gold and black Chinese clothing, close, but not too close.

"Yes please."

"I was a little girl, not ten, maybe not nine but older than you and not so tall."

Melinda smiled a little at the familiar teasing.

"We had gone to the street market, my mother, grandmother and I, to barter for those things we didn't raise ourselves. Out of nowhere, a man grabbed me from my mother, and ran inside a nearby building. He hauled me up several flights of steps using me as shield to stop other men from hurting him. Many men tried to save me but my captor put a gun to my head. This stopped the other men from trying."

Lian made her hand into a gun and pointed it to the side of her forehead. Melinda shuddered.

"I was not old enough to know why he did this but I was old enough to know what a gun was and that I would not see my mother or grandmother again. He carried me into room with balcony, slamming the door behind him and locking it. He said something to me, but I didn't understand his language. There were others in the room, men with more guns and I could hear many sirens in the distance. Laughing, he turned me upside down, holding me firmly by my left leg. I tried to kick him with my free leg and he shook me, hard. He tucked the hem of my pants into the hand that held me so I could not kick at him again and went onto the balcony with me in front of him. He shouted at the people below him. I still did not know what he was saying. He got angry and held me off the edge, shaking me and shouting. I was silent, too afraid now to fight. I could see that my arms were too little to reach the fence around the balcony and that the ground was too far for me to fall safely should he choose to let go. I knew then that I would die this day. I did not want to die, but no one could save me. I looked to the crowd below, there was always a crowd in Shanghai, to try to see my mother or grandmother to help me be brave but I could not see them. I did dare to look down and on the ground I saw a fence almost directly below me with tops that were pointed and the building beside the one we were in was new construction. That fence frightened me more than the man did, so I did not look down again. Instead I looked at the people below as they looked up at me and I was grateful Mama had dressed me in pants and not what I had wished to wear. And as much as I loved being upside down, I did not like this. He shook me again and pretended he was going to drop me. The people below screamed for me. All I could think about was that fence and I was too afraid. Hours passed as he held me and shook me, though probably not as many as I thought at the time. It was starting to get hard to breathe…"

Young Melinda sat with rapt attention as she listened to her mother's history, eyes wide.

"Who saved you?" she dared to ask.

"My angel in black," Lian replied simply.

May knew she had to save that child and she knew she had to be the one to do it even though Jemma would give her hell for what she was about to try. This task was hers to complete, no matter the cost… she liked her name. She looked at Phil 2.0 as he frowned back at her and realized then that he would be of no help to her. Instead she looked to Daisy.

"I have to save that little girl," May told them, looking at Daisy. "Let me get as high as I can, then shoot him – I will catch her. Phil, find her mother."

"May…" Phil 2.0 tried, then paused knowing it wouldn't help.

May slipped into the crowd, quickly weaving her way to the edge of the building, then she took off running and leaping. Daisy wasn't sure what was going on in May's mind, but the one thing she knew above all else was that she had to trust her. There wasn't much that Daisy could see for May to use to get the height she'd wanted but May made the leap to the second floor balcony, so far undetected. Daisy pulled her gun and lined up the shot, she squeezed on the trigger, the gun fired, man flew back, his hand released the child and she started to fall. May used everything she could to get higher and she jumped into the air, intersecting with the child and pulling her into her chest as she forced her body to roll to protect the child as she fell toward the construction side of the fence. She knew that above all else this child had to be safe and although she hadn't thought this through, she knew the Melinda in her mother's story hadn't been hurt. And as May herself began to fall she felt Daisy's power slow her descent and she landed on the ground safely and without the expected pain.

"You're safe now," May promised in Mandarin, pulling herself into a seated position to more easily cuddle the child.

The child clung to May, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. May held her securely and rubbed gentle circles into back the way her grandmother had done for her as a small child.

"I've got you. You're okay," May promised gently as she remained on alert.

Daisy, seeing they were safe, moved off to help round up the other henchmen. But between the something in her gut and the memory of her mother's story, May realized that they were still in danger and she listened to herself as she automatically repeated the words from that story.

"You are okay, but we aren't safe yet. I need you to be brave now, and to trust me. I promise I will keep you safe and I won't let anyone else hurt you."

The girl pulled in a shuddering breath and released May. She slowly pulled away to be able to look at her.

"Slip under this board and stay hidden, quickly now."

May helped the girl slide into the gap under the board amidst the construction. She smiled confidently at the child, then May stood slowly. Suddenly they were surrounded.

"I could see around the board she hid me under. There were five men, all bigger than the woman in black. She was all alone, but she crouched with her fists up. From where I was hidden I could feel her confidence as she attacked the first of the men. She was so much more than brave. I'd never seen anyone fight like her," Lian told her daughter. "But I suppose I'd never really seen anyone fight before. She was very fast. She wasted no motion and she knew how to use her little size to her advantage. She seemed to know exactly where they would try to punch at her, but she was never there. They were all so much bigger than she was, yet as I watched she beat the first one… then the next… and I decided then that I would be like her… I would grow up to be able to save people. Her fighting seemed effortless as she beat the rest before helping me from my hiding place. She was not hurt; she was barely even tired. How could she fly to catch me and not be hurt? How could she fight so hard without seeming to be tired… she must have been tired, but she kept that hidden from me. I knew I had to learn do this thing…"

May was hurting, but the child couldn't know because her mother hadn't known, so she put her pain away and brought the girl close to her. She actively searched the crowd for the Phil 2.0 and kept the little one shielded as best she could. Finally she spied him. She knew she had to get the girl back to her family, so May smiled at her and kept her close, moving toward the place where Phil 2.0 was motioning for her. But this child had other plans as she came to a complete stop. May stopped as well confused because this wasn't part of the story that she knew.

"What is your name?" the little one demanded in Mandarin.

May knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this child would become her mother and fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"My name?" May replied still in Mandarin, still trying to urge her forward.

She nodded, quick and short and May again saw her mother in the gesture.

"Melinda," she told her. "Melinda Qiaolian May"

"Lian Chen Su," the girl told her, then nodded with that quick distinct nod, but she started to move in the direction that May wanted her to go.

Lian's fears were gone as she moved beside her. Melinda could see that she had decided that she would be brave, would always be brave and Melinda smiled at her… at her mother's defining moment.

Phil 2.0 had found her mother and grandmother in the crowd and when May arrived the little one took her place at her mother's side, close, May noticed, but not too close and completely without fear or anxiety. May nodded at the woman who would become her grandmother Lin Chen, then froze as her eyes met those of her great grandmother, a woman that she'd never had the opportunity to meet. She knew this was Qiaolian who she'd thought she'd been named for and was amazed by the physical similarities between them. Then Qiaolian smiled and by the look in her eye May was certain that she knew exactly what had just happened… how she wasn't sure… but…

"May!" Daisy's voice was heard over the crowd.  
"Here!"

"Come on, we've got to go!"

Melinda Qiaolian May bowed respectfully to her great grandmother, grandmother and then her 'child' mother. She started to walk away but she looked back over her shoulder with a smile and a nod, just like in the story Lian told her as a child, one that always ended with:

"I made many promises to myself that day: I will always be brave like Melinda Qiaolian May; I will learn to save people like she did; and I will always be the best warrior I can be and keep my heart kind. These are promises that I continue to keep to this day. But the most important promise that I made to honor the woman who saved me was to give my daughter the name Melinda Qiaolian. That is your name, my child. You should be proud to have this name."

May caught up with Daisy and Phil 2.0 trying not to grimace as her hard footfalls from running jarred the injuries her body faced from the fight, injuries that wouldn't have bothered her in the past, the type of injuries she would be certain would not bother her in the future and they hurried back to the quinjet. Once safely aboard Daisy turned to May who'd all but collapsed into the cockpit to get the plane away from the area.

"So, who was the kid?" Daisy asked, moving to the copilot's seat.

May was quiet until the plane was safely in the air.

"She'll grow up to be my mom," May clarified.

Jemma entered the cockpit at that moment.

"Daisy take the controls," Jemma ordered, then to May added. "I saw what you did."

"I'm fine," May muttered.

"Probably, but I intend to be sure."

May sighed and let Jemma move the small hand-held device around her. Gone was the poking and prodding, it was like something from another time. Time? A thought moved forward in mind.

"My mother always believed in time travel," she realized aloud. Now she knew why, but her memory flashed an image of her great grandmother. Wait… how could she have… could it be… that there was still more to this story?


End file.
